Farm Struggles Will Impact Grocery Prices

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Farmers across the country are facing mounting financial pressures, and for some, the question isn’t just how to get by—it’s what the long-term consequences will look like. Shay Myers, owner of Owyhee Produce, says that if current challenges continue, the impacts could ripple all the way to grocery store prices.

Myers… “ I think the real question is what does the future hold? Where, when does the change happen? At some point, I think this is gonna be like a COVID event, and a lot of people maybe don't understand that. When we went from—let's say 2018 to the end of 2022, and let's even call it 2020 to 2022, we quickly saw our food increase in price somewhere between 40% and 70%. Putting this many farmers out of business is going to result in something similar. We're going to see another significant increase in costs when this is all said and done. And so the question is, as we look at it, can we make it to that point where we can actually make a living again? Or will we run out of funds before the time before that opportunity presents itself? And so, what is the strategy for that? I mean, again, minimizing spending, looking for labor savings, looking for crops that maybe are an alternative, minimizing losses anywhere you can.”

Myers emphasizes that we are still in the early stages of these consequences.